Read Online I, Morgana by Felicity Pulman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Felicity Pulman
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way is the portal I have made in the bramble hedge that forms one side of the abbey garden. No one else can enter this way, for their path is blocked by thorns. I use the same chant to open this portal but I have not yet fathomed all its secrets, although I hope in time to find a way through to the Otherworlds I long to visit.
Meanwhile I am learning about the man they call Jesus, for his followers are becoming more widespread across the realm and it’s in my interests to find out how they think and what they believe. Even Arthur, so I have heard, now carries a cross on his shield. I suspect it’s to honor our mother, who, I’m told, repented her sin of lying with Uther before they were wed, and has now died of grief and remorse. I feel some vindication that she acknowledged the truth behind Arthur’s conception, although my brother is still acclaimed as the heir to my kingdom.
As well as learning about the Christ, I am also learning about a past that I never suspected. There are a few scrolls and books at the priory but many more at the abbey library, ancient writings from Greece and Arabia with much of interest concerning both our world and what lies beyond. I owe my thanks to the prioress for ensuring I have access to whatever texts I want, and to the brothers at the abbey for helping me to read and understand them. I know they expect some largesse in return, and so I give them a gold ring that once belonged to my father, but that is too large for me to wear on any of my fingers or even my thumb.
There is a good reason for my industry. Although I enjoy learning for its own sake, it is my belief that if I have more knowledge than Merlin, I shall be able to outwit him when the time is right. I haven’t forgotten my promise to punish him for his betrayal—of my father and of me—and the harm that he has done. Arthur too. They have taken what was mine, my birthright, and I will not rest until I have wrought vengeance on both of them.
To my delight, I finally solve the secret of Merlin’s crystal. The spells of the garden and my secret ways were cast with wands of ash, oak and hazel, under a full moon. All of these spells I found in Merlin’s book, but it says little about how to access paths to Otherworlds and other realities, perhaps assuming a knowledge that I don’t have. When I visited some of these worlds with Merlin at Tintagel, he never showed me just how it was done. This is a trick I’ve had to learn through trial and error, and I’ve discovered that Merlin’s crystal is the key, along with the need to also carry some portion of an oak tree, either my wand, or even a leaf or a twig, when I venture forth through the bramble bushes.
One of the worlds I return to is the island of Avalon, the sacred isle of healing guarded by the high priestess Viviane and her acolytes, all of whom worship a being they call the Mother Goddess. Viviane is also known as the Lady of the Lake because of her habit of bathing naked in the lake in the center of the isle under the light of the full moon. She claims the moon’s power fills her with radiance and enhances her magical abilities. I have noticed she allows no one else the same privilege, or opportunity for improvement. Indeed, she guards her magical arts just as jealously as the Christian priests guard their mysteries at the high altar. To me, the rituals at the shrine of the Mother Goddess seem to be as hierarchical and narrow as the rituals of the Christians in their church; only the gender of the being they worship is different. But I respect their knowledge of the natural world, and I am learning all I can about the magical healing properties of some of the unfamiliar herbs, flowers, trees and bushes that grow in the wild there. On each visit I secrete some of these magical plants under my cloak to bring back to the priory, for it gives me great pleasure to make use of the knowledge and skills I have learned in Avalon to heal the sick and bring relief from
Meanwhile I am learning about the man they call Jesus, for his followers are becoming more widespread across the realm and it’s in my interests to find out how they think and what they believe. Even Arthur, so I have heard, now carries a cross on his shield. I suspect it’s to honor our mother, who, I’m told, repented her sin of lying with Uther before they were wed, and has now died of grief and remorse. I feel some vindication that she acknowledged the truth behind Arthur’s conception, although my brother is still acclaimed as the heir to my kingdom.
As well as learning about the Christ, I am also learning about a past that I never suspected. There are a few scrolls and books at the priory but many more at the abbey library, ancient writings from Greece and Arabia with much of interest concerning both our world and what lies beyond. I owe my thanks to the prioress for ensuring I have access to whatever texts I want, and to the brothers at the abbey for helping me to read and understand them. I know they expect some largesse in return, and so I give them a gold ring that once belonged to my father, but that is too large for me to wear on any of my fingers or even my thumb.
There is a good reason for my industry. Although I enjoy learning for its own sake, it is my belief that if I have more knowledge than Merlin, I shall be able to outwit him when the time is right. I haven’t forgotten my promise to punish him for his betrayal—of my father and of me—and the harm that he has done. Arthur too. They have taken what was mine, my birthright, and I will not rest until I have wrought vengeance on both of them.
To my delight, I finally solve the secret of Merlin’s crystal. The spells of the garden and my secret ways were cast with wands of ash, oak and hazel, under a full moon. All of these spells I found in Merlin’s book, but it says little about how to access paths to Otherworlds and other realities, perhaps assuming a knowledge that I don’t have. When I visited some of these worlds with Merlin at Tintagel, he never showed me just how it was done. This is a trick I’ve had to learn through trial and error, and I’ve discovered that Merlin’s crystal is the key, along with the need to also carry some portion of an oak tree, either my wand, or even a leaf or a twig, when I venture forth through the bramble bushes.
One of the worlds I return to is the island of Avalon, the sacred isle of healing guarded by the high priestess Viviane and her acolytes, all of whom worship a being they call the Mother Goddess. Viviane is also known as the Lady of the Lake because of her habit of bathing naked in the lake in the center of the isle under the light of the full moon. She claims the moon’s power fills her with radiance and enhances her magical abilities. I have noticed she allows no one else the same privilege, or opportunity for improvement. Indeed, she guards her magical arts just as jealously as the Christian priests guard their mysteries at the high altar. To me, the rituals at the shrine of the Mother Goddess seem to be as hierarchical and narrow as the rituals of the Christians in their church; only the gender of the being they worship is different. But I respect their knowledge of the natural world, and I am learning all I can about the magical healing properties of some of the unfamiliar herbs, flowers, trees and bushes that grow in the wild there. On each visit I secrete some of these magical plants under my cloak to bring back to the priory, for it gives me great pleasure to make use of the knowledge and skills I have learned in Avalon to heal the sick and bring relief from
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